There was so much to see at the Museum of Natural Science in Raleigh, that I had to go to two posts. Today will concentrate on the North Carolina specific exhibits. Like the history section moving from earliest prehistory to more recent history, the North Carolina ecosystem exhibits moved across the state from the mountains to the sea.

The Western area is called the Mountain Cove Forest. The Highlands area has the distinction of having the most rainfall of any area in the east, with an average of 80 inches a year.

Full size dioramas depict the key features of the region. Mountains, forests, natural flora and fauna were represented. The forests of western North Carolina are thought to be among the oldest in the US, and North Carolina has the most peaks east of the Mississippi at 43 taller than 6000 ft, and many more under 6000 like ours.

Waterfalls and birds seen from the balcony above the Mountain Cove diorama.

Our region also has Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in the east, and Whitewater Falls, the tallest waterfall in the east.

The Piedmont area of forests and plains was represented with additional dioramas.

Between the Piedmont and the Mountain cove forests, there are more species of fungi in NC than any other state. Animals found in the areas are part of the scenes, like the fox seen here.

The Coastal region of NC contains the New River, in a quirky twist of naming, as it is thought to be the oldest river in eastern North America. The coastal region also has the oldest trees known in eastern North America, a stand of Bald Cypress dated at 1700 years old!

This is a Megatooth shark’s jaw bones with teeth, the ancestor of the modern Great White.

On a recent trip to Raleigh over a weekend, DH and I spent an entire Sunday at the Museum of Natural Science downtown. Sunday was a great day to go, parking was easy, traffic was low, and the cafe was open before the Museum so we could have lunch before the visit. Two multi-story buildings connected by a sky bridge contain more than you can see in a day. The world globe was three stories tall!

Starting off on the first floor coming out from the Daily Planet Cafe, the first thing you see is the giant Right whale skeleton. There was so much to learn about whale migration, the study of their life habits, and how this study contributes to the efforts to make our impact on them less dire. This whale was one that researchers had been following, and she died from massive trauma to her head, indicating she was struck by a ship. The researchers had documented her dozens of times and the loss felt personal to them.

Especially sad was that she was pregnant at the time of her death, the fetal skeleton seen in the exhibit in the position it would be in her body. It takes almost a year for gestation and females only bear one calf every three years. There are only a few hundred Right whales left in the world, so figuring out how not to kill them is important. Their migration courses and our shipping lanes follow the same ocean routes. By analyzing data on whale migration routes, shipping lanes and ship speed, it was found that ship speed makes a difference. Slowing the ships down successfully dropped the collision death rate with Right whales to zero the next year!

It was interesting to see a T Rex skeleton, although this one is a replica. This would have been a juvenile in size. In studying the bones, scientists have changed their view of how it walked. Where they used to believe that the dinosaur dragged its tail, they now believe that it held the tail high like a bird, balancing the front in a more forward leaning posture. Did you know that scientists now think that most dinosaurs had feathers, or quill like coverings rather than scales? A find in 2016 of a dinosaur tail covered in feathers and preserved in amber confirmed the theory.

It is generally believed that our modern birds evolved from dinosaurs, interesting!!

There is a working laboratory for fossil study right there on the premises, and you can watch them working during the week.

Also in that area, an exhibit of skulls with cards telling the observer the type and relative age, both human and ape.

This strange exhibit caught my attention as it depicts the relative size differences between several bacteria and viruses. It was one of many interactive exhibits dealing with physical biology of humans.

Overhead was a huge depiction of DNA, with many exhibits to read and see. One thing that made it so interesting was the level of writing, not too simple, not too complex, just drew you in with interesting facts presented in a compelling way.

Then, the exhibits moved into space, with fascinating exhibits of galactic study, so much to learn!! Fascinating exhibits on radio waves in space, water on distant moons, the character of light coming across our galaxy, billions of stars with orbiting planets, it just boggles the mind.

This is also a working laboratory, studying the moon, asteroids and meteors.

Walking across the sky bridge, we crossed over to the second building. We hadn’t seen everything in the first one, yet, but I wanted to be sure to see the T Rex skull they had so we went to look for it. The sky bridge was on the third floor, and we could see the upper part of the globe there. Walking across the bridge, you went forward in time from the earliest prehistoric time to more recent recorded history.

If you enjoy non-fiction, here’s a book on the legal fight over the T Rex skeleton found in 1990 in South Dakota called Sue. Found by a paleontologist, fought over between factions of the Native American Sioux Tribe, universities, corporate interests, museums, scientists and the federal government, Sue was the subject of a legal battle then an international auction. One of the placards talked about this, and I have seen a television show on it. The book looks really interesting, reading a bit on the preview at Amazon, (Affiliate link) it might make a fun gift for the budding scientist, legal thriller fan or the history buff.

Another huge exhibit in this building was on the seas, and the Blue Whale. This is the view of the smaller skeleton from above on the third floor.

And the same skeleton from the second floor.

Trying to give you the sense of the huge scale of these bones, here’s the view of the larger one from the first floor, with the smaller one seen behind it. It was interesting to read that the darker color on the skull portion is due to it still having the oil in the bone. Once considered valuable, the Blue whale was almost hunted to extinction for its oil.

An atrium contained a battle scene of dinosaurs, with a huge brontosaurus.

and a large Acrocanthosaurus skeleton. The placard next to it says, “don’t call it a TRex”.

This skeleton is very rare, the only one of its kind this complete on display in the world. Due to the continued deterioration of the bones from to exposure to air, most of it has been replaced with casts on the display, with the bones taken to controlled storage. The mounted skull is a cast, with the real one under glass below. Its skull looks a lot like the T Rex, but it lived 45 million years before T Rex. Originally the skull was found flattened, but painstaking restoration included taking the bones apart and reassembling them in the proper place and took a year to complete.

Overhead, flying pterosaurs circle on a rotating arm.

When we found the next exhibit on fossils, I thought we were close.

Here’s the T Rex skull, I think it is a cast replica. I never did figure out how the paleontologists tell the difference between T Rex and Acro.

As is usual, I took more pictures than is reasonable to show. Tomorrow I’ll show you more of the museum, dedicated to North Carolina’s ecosystem and history. It was fascinating too!

My card making for September focused on supportive messages for a couple of friends having some health challenges. This seemed like a good time to participate in a card challenge at Just For Fun Stamps. The challenge for September was to take their design sketch and make a card using it as inspiration. Yellow cardstock looked nice with the purple striped paper, and I had some purple washi tape too.

So I got out some supplies, and began by stamping a tall motif on a light lavendar paper. This is actually three different stamps that go together to make one basket full of flowers. I used three different colors of ink, and stamped the flowers several times to create a full bouquet.

I glued the striped piece down in the position suggested by the sketch, and added washi tape to make the horizontal bars.

The basket of flowers was added, and I couldn’t resist adding the little bee too. The sentiment is in the bottom right corner. This card is my entry into the challenge.

I had one more message of support to do, and used my pickup truck again. This is a favorite one because of the sentiment that goes with it. I pulled some blue cardstock, and some of the blue handmade paper that I got from a blogger friend on Etsy. I plan to make some of my own now that the weather has cooled off.

“Thought you could use a little pickup” works on so many cards!

I used up the last of the gold washi tape, and placed the homemade paper across the bottom. Aren’t those dogs in the truck bed cute!

Did you know that I create cards with your message inside? See my Etsy store listing for custom cards. I create a card, then put a printed sentiment on the inside that is your personal message, and it can be sent directly to your recipient. I need a lead time of five days for creating and mail time. Or I can send the card and an envelope to you for presentation.

I have put some stamp sets in my Etsy store too, if you are interested in adding to your collection at a really low price for brand new retired sets. Stampin’ UP! Stamp Sets.

Are you stamping or playing with paper?

.

One last reminder, the Fat Quarter Shop is raising money for Hurricane Harvey relief with a special pattern called Healing Hearts. Click on Fat Quarter Shop , hover over patterns/books and then click on the banner for Healing Hearts. While you are there, check out the Flash Sale and the Precuts bargains to help you make your quilt.

The Blogger’s Quilt Festival is going on this week, a neat virtual quilt show. This fun annual event is hosted by Amy’s Creative Side. Quilters are allowed two entries, so here is my second share. Last fall, I did a month long event on my blog that began with making several blocks in two patterns, then assembling them into several complementary items. The blocks were pumpkins and leaves. To begin, we made a mini quilt with one pumpkin and three leaves.

Adding black felt details, just placed on top of the pumpkin, turned it into a Jack-O-Lantern. The felt clings to the fabric so I don’t have to sew them on, which makes the little quilt changeable for the season. The bits are pinned to the back for storing so I won’t lose them. They go on the front in October, and are pinned on the back for September and November.

Then, we made more blocks for a table runner. Turning the pumpkins towards the outer edges makes the runner right side up no matter where you are sitting.

Then we made more blocks, and put together a table topper. Once again, I turned the pumpkins so that each side of the topper has one right side up. I entered the topper into the NC Mountain State Fair this year, and was absolutely thrilled to win not only a first place ribbon, but also a Judge’s Choice.

I am doing Autumn Jubilee again this year, beginning October 1. It is a month long event of giveaways, patterns, quilt along, sew along, stitch along, tablecapes, recipes, card making and more.

My blog is a variety of subjects, quilting and sewing, tablescapes and recipes, book reviews and hand stitching, crafting and mountain living. I love to have new followers, too! See the buttons on the sidebar to follow by your favorite method (smart phone users, the sidebar is below the comments). If you are visiting, please stay a bit and have a look around, my tutorials are gathered at the top in pages to make them easy to find. Lots of fun is had here, and I have more fun patterns and events coming up!

The Fat Quarter Shop is raising money for Hurricane Harvey relief with a special pattern called Healing Hearts. Click on Fat Quarter Shop, hover over patterns/books and then click on the banner for Healing Hearts. While you are there, check out the Flash Sale and the Precuts bargains to help you make your quilt.

Hop over to the Fall 2017 edition of the Blogger’s Quilt Festival to see more quilts! There are prizes too, so if you can share about your competed quilt, there are multiple ways to enter.

The last competition I entered at the Mountain Regional State Fair was a Blueberry recipe competition sponsored by the NC Blueberry Council. The rules for this competition were a bit different, as the focus was on the health benefits of blueberries, not their use in sweets. In fact, for scoring purposes, healthy was 50% of the total, with ease of preparation 25% and taste 25%. In addition, at least one cup of the blueberries had to be used unprocessed, and not part of a mix ingredient. To me that meant using the whole berries, just washed and added to the dish. So, I went with a Spinach Salad. The recipe was tested on my friends at a Summer Luncheon with a basic Blueberry Vinaigrette.

I knew the blueberries had to be the main taste, and I still wanted to use a Blueberry Vinaigrette, but for the competition, an ordinary one would not do. It needed to have some special punch, so what could I use? Something that would pair well with blueberries but be a surprise. If only I had something fresh….

Stepping out to the veranda, I cut several basil leaves, and also grabbed some of the fresh parsley. I chopped the basil and parsley, and added them to the oil and balsamic vinegar, along with the spices. The blueberry flavor was added by using blueberry pancake syrup. The syrup acted like an emulsifier, keeping the dressing from immediately separating and blending the flavors. It also added a bit of sweetness to the dressing. Blueberry Basil Vinaigrette was created.

I constructed the competition salads individually so I could compose each serving, ensuring that each one had the right balance of elements. I wish I had remembered to take a picture of the presentation as I thought it was quite pretty. I froze water in the bottom of a circular tray, put fresh parsley around the ring, then placed the five servings of salad on top.

The salads were very lightly dressed, and additional dressing was put in the middle of the tray for judges to have more if they wanted. And they did, as it came back with a lot less in the mason jar.

Each one was covered with plastic wrap, and a fork was placed on the top.

Turned in to the judging, mine is on the left of the picture in the front. There were 23 entries in this contest, so very stiff competition.

And I couldn’t get any more pictures, as I was absolutely blown away as my name was called first as the Third Place winner!! I got this one when I got home of the ribbon. There were photographers there, and I have no idea where they were from. Perhaps local newspapers, but so far I haven’t been able find a report anywhere. The fair doesn’t put winners on its website, so I know that wasn’t it. It was a swirl of people wanting pictures of me and the other winners, asking about the recipes, and congratulations from the other contestants. For several minutes I could only stand in one place with a big grin on my face. It was thrilling.

No, the Blueberry Council didn’t have any aprons, LOL, but I had been hoping. Here’s my recipe.

The Blogger’s Quilt Festival is going on this week, a virtual quilt show with completed quilts shown by lots and lots of bloggers. This fun annual event is hosted by Amy’s Creative Side, and to participate you have to create a new post showing a quilt. There are some great prizes to be awarded, and this year there is no voting, just a random drawing. I want to show Be My Carolina Neighbor as it was a long process of completion. This quilt was a quilt-along on my blog using a published free pattern by Moda. Doing two blocks a month plus assembly, quilting and finishing took 8 months.

Each block was unique, using all scraps. I went out of my normal color palette and did the entire quilt in pastels with blue sky background.

There were mixed techniques with piecing and applique. I did the bird appliques all differently. Tiny buttons were eyes.

Small details were added as embellishments. This little dog button was perfect, and I finally found a use for him.

Plus I added some quilt block pins to look like barn quilts on the houses.

Additional embellishments like this Battenburg lace heart were added to sections with larger spaces.

Entering it in the North Carolina Mountain Regional State Fair, it won a second place ribbon in the Bed Quilts Mixed Techniques category. Entering quilts in the fair is fun, and you don’t have to worry about dirty hands as they are hung from the ceiling.

Hop over to the Fall 2017 edition of the Blogger’s Quilt Festival to see more quilts! There are prizes too, so if you can share about your competed quilt, there are multiple ways to enter. Quilters are allowed two entries, so I’ll be doing another one later in the week.

My blog is a variety of subjects, quilting and sewing, tablescapes and recipes, book reviews and hand stitching, crafting and mountain living. I love to have new followers, too! See the buttons on the sidebar to follow by your favorite method (smart phone users, the sidebar is below the comments). If you are visiting, please stay a bit and have a look around, my tutorials are gathered at the top in pages to make them easy to find. Lots of fun is had here, and I have more fun patterns and events coming up! Autumn Jubilee begins October 1st.

I also want to let the quilter readers know, the Fat Quarter Shop is raising money for Hurricane Harvey relief with a special pattern called Healing Hearts. Click on Fat Quarter Shop, hover over patterns/books and then click on the banner for Healing Hearts. While you are there, check out the Flash Sale and the Precuts bargains to help you make your quilt.

One thing that always a problem is keeping my sunglasses scratch free. I often have used drawstring bags, or quilted ones where the glasses slide in one end. Those are easy to make, but the problem is the glasses will not stay inside. They end up either sticking out the end, or coming out altogether inside my purse. So, the only thing to do is to make a new pattern for one that will hold the glasses inside. Now, I like big sunglasses, ones that will give me a lot of protection both in front and partially around the sides, and they have to have a bit of glam or bling with rhinestones or something cute. My friend Bonnie calls these my Jackie O glasses. LOL!!

To get started, I pulled out two coordinating purple fabrics to make the case.

Fabric and notion requirements –

Two pieces of fabric 10-inches x 9-inches.
One piece of scrap batting 8-1/4-inches x 9-1/4-inches
One piece of velcro 4-inches in length, both hook and loop sides

Start by putting the two pieces of fabric right sides together and sew around the edge with 1/4-inch allowance, leaving an opening for turning.

Clip corners. Turn right side out pushing the corners out sharply. Press.

With a tool like a chopstick, insert batting, using tool to smooth out the batting flat inside the bag.

Topstitch 1/4 inch from the edge all the way around, catching the opening for turning.

Quilt simply with cross-hatching, or wavy lines.

I used wavy lines in both directions, about 2-1/2 inches apart.

On the outside fabric, stitch one side of the velcro near a short edge about 2-1/2-inches from the sides (centered).

Position the other side of the velcro on the inside fabric near the edge and stitch down.

Fold the bottom edge up 3-1/2 inches.

Top-stitch the sides.

Finished, and ready to use.

Closed up, the velcro will hold the glasses inside.

Larger and longer than most, this case will hold those larger size shades.

Nicely padded with the quilting, it will keep the glasses scratch free.

Closed with the glasses inside.

You can make smaller ones for your reading glasses too. Just measure the length of your glasses and add one inch. Now I have a matched set!

This simple design can be used for scissors keepers too, or anything else you want to carry and have remain inside the case. I think I’ll make another one for Autumn!

My blog is about a variety of topics, quilting and sewing, crafting and cooking, reading and travel, mountain living and gardening, and more. You can follow my blog in several ways, see the sidebar for email sign up or blog-reader links (smart phone users scroll down past the comments). I have lots of free patterns for quilters, mystery quilt alongs, holiday quilt alongs, and seasonal events with giveaways. Please follow me for all the fun! Speaking of Autumn, my Autumn Jubilee event is coming up in October, a whole month of projects, a quilt along, a sew along, crafting projects, tablescapes, recipes and giveaways.

(Affiliate links. Check out today’s Flash Sale! By clicking on the link and making a purchase, I may earn a small commission to help support the costs of my blog. You can use your existing account with Fat Quarter Shop to shop. Thank you for using my links!)

Follow Blog via Email

I’m now an affiliate for both Amazon and Fat Quarter Shop, using my links will enable me to make a small commission on any sales without affecting your prices. You can still use your existing accounts with those vendors. Thank you for using my links!!

Fat Quarter Shop Affiliate Link

I receive a small commission on sales.

Scrap Dance Waltz is available on Craftsy!

Scrap Dance Tango Available on Craftsy

Buy my Scrap Dance digital pattern on Craftsy

Visit my Etsy Store for vintage and handmade items, and more!

Featuring handmade items and vintage treasures.

See all my patterns on Craftsy!

Free patterns and patterns available for purchase

Search for:

Amazon Affiliate Link – From My Carolina Home is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Maple Star Table Topper Moda Bake Shop Recipe!

Jelly Roll Market Bag – scrap project

Flash Sale! See what you can get today!

Affiliate Link to Today's Flash Sale!
I will receive a small commission using this link.